Borrowed fromAncient Greekπεριφραστικός(periphrastikós), fromπερίφρασις(períphrasis,“periphrasis”).
periphrastic (notcomparable)
- Expressed inmorewords than arenecessary.
He wrote aperiphrastic love letter to his wife to patch up their relationship.
She was simply asked to express how she felt, but her response wasperiphrastic.
1916, Martin Brown Ruud,An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway[1]:As poetry it does not measure up to Aasen; as translation it isperiphrastic, arbitrary, not at all faithful.
1940,T. S. Eliot,East Coker:That was a way of putting it—not very satisfactory/ Aperiphrastic study in a worn-out poetical fashion/ Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle / With words and meanings.
- Indirect in naming an entity;circumlocutory.
1871,Edward Bulwer-Lytton (published anonymously),The Coming Race[2], Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons:In writing, they deem it irreverent to express the Supreme Being [and] in conversation they generally use aperiphrastic epithet, such as theAll-Good.
- (grammar) Characterized byperiphrasis.
“The daughter of the man” may be used as aperiphrastic synonym for “the man’s daughter”.
expressed in more words than are necessary
indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory
grammar: characterized by periphrase or circumlocution
